Pillar of Yita

He exerted his strength on this side, and the others suddenly felt much more relaxed. Xiangzi also quickly rested and rejoined the fight. After slicing through the enemies like cutting vegetables, the number of Ancient Monarch Hunter’s minions visibly reduced.

Parker fired several Explosive Crossbow Bolts, and following the impact, they almost burst out of the cave entrance, throwing the ranks of the Undead into major disarray.

But as the smoke cleared, Fang Hong realized that the ordinary Skeleton Warriors upfront had nearly all fallen, leaving only the Crow’s Claw Guards. Armed with Great Swords and clad in dark, Dragon Scale Heavy Armor, they formed a neat, imposing wall.

As the battle reached this point, it was about to enter the core phase of the BOSS fight. Fang Hong asked the Walker to retreat and calm down after which he also became more reserved; the ”Sword Bearer,” no matter how fully engaged, was only moderately matched against the Crow’s Claw Guards, and the speed of killing monsters had dropped, causing magic power recovery to lag behind.

This made him realize the weakness of this invocation: it was good at battling groups, but nearly ineffective or a lot less notable when facing a single opponent or a much stronger enemy.

Tainaric and Xiangzi were also retreating. Nearly a hundred Crow’s Claw Guards were the key to this battle; confronting them head-on was almost impossible to win, not to mention Fang Hong saw from afar that beside the Ancient Monarch Hunter, the Black Cloaked Knights were lining up.

The Undead Knights, though only about twenty in number, held Curved Blades that faintly glimmered. Standing silently side by side, they presented such a formidable appearance that a single charge from them was clearly not to be trifled with.

Seeing this, Fang Hong gestured, and the three obediently retreated back into the cave. There was nothing tricky left in the battle, it was merely a comparison of willpower, patience, and experience. At this point, as long as they avoided being surrounded or making mistakes, they were essentially entering the final phase; it all came down to who could last until the very end, exhausted and collapsed.

Of course, Fang Hong also had to consider that the ultimate confrontation with the true body of that Ancient King would be a vicious battle. Fortunately, a dominion-type BOSS was mostly not that strong, especially since it was only a phantom, and Toragotos must have his considerations too.

Under his direction, the four of them fought and retreated, continuously moving deeper into the cave.

In these narrow places, the Crow’s Claw Guards found it hard to maneuver, always giving Fang Hong and his party chances to kill one or two. While that ancient king was controlled by negative energy, his cunning still lingered; seeing this, he immediately withdrew his minions and quietly waited in the mist outside for his power to recover.

But at this point, one could see the advantage of having trimmed down the cannon-fodder army surrounding the Undead Lord; previously, Fang Hong would never dare to pursue them, or risk falling into the Sea of the Undead amidst hundreds, a situation only spelling certain death.

However, now, with only a few dozen Crow’s Claw Guards left (some lost inside the cave), relying on these Heavy Warriors alone was not enough to trap them; their only concern was the Black Cloaked Knights.

But the threat of the Black Cloaked Knights wasn’t as great as imagined. After all, the Heavy Cavalry had to form up before an attack, and the distance from the cave exterior to the battlefield wasn’t as far as imagined—and every time they struck, Fang Hong and his team changed directions, rendering those Undead Knights helpless against them.

Even if the enemies were ready, they could stop and let Parker harass them from range, quite satisfyingly.

This way, the master-servant roles were reversed; Fang Hong and his group indirectly took control of the battlefield. Thus, after several rounds, the numbers of Crow’s Claw Guards reduced by over half. In fact, this also revealed a weakness in Eteliria’s Undead-type monsters. These aggregates of negative energy, no matter how strong in life, after death were left with only a shell driven by negative emotions—perhaps somewhat cunning by nature, but still far too rigid.

Indeed, in the First World, most non-human creatures had this flaw; they might be high enough in level, but they lacked the intellect to exert their combat power accordingly. The Invokers had plenty of ways to deal with them.

Of course, infinite respawns with home ground advantage excluded.

In fact, there had long been a saying in Eteliria that the most formidable enemies were humanoid monsters, a viewpoint that could be said to be accurate for quite a long period—until the Invokers arrived in the Second World.

Of course, the so-called ease was just a metaphor. In reality, Fang Hong and his team faced quite a few dangerous situations when dealing with this Ancient King—such as this BOSS unexpectedly leaving behind a squad of Skeleton Archers as reserves outside, almost catching them off-guard.

Fortunately, these bone structures were infamous as the worst archers of the First World, with laughable attack power and range, otherwise, Fang Hong might have had to shamefully withdraw from the trial in that volley.

Then there was when the numbers of Crow’s Claw Guards dropped significantly, the BOSS actually summoned a squad of Succubi, these spirit creatures being over Level 20 High-Rank Undead, not only extremely hard to kill but also proficient in magic.

This was the uncomfortable situation one inevitably faces without a guide: without knowing the opponent’s capabilities, you could never be sure what kind of situation they would create next.

But it all depended on them and Tainaric.